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Rum Cheers June 09

While vodka largely pays the bills on-premise, these days rum’s got the juice.

Increasingly, bar and restaurant operators are making room on the back bar for more rum bottles. Some are new flavored brands used to spike cocktails with tropical flavors (like guava and mango) or spices, while other aged and more complex brands are entering the U.S. market from the Caribbean and Central America, expanding the range and quality of products.

While vodka largely pays the bills on-premise, these days rum’s got the juice.

Increasingly, bar and restaurant operators are making room on the back bar for more rum bottles. Some are new flavored brands used to spike cocktails with tropical flavors (like guava and mango) or spices, while other aged and more complex brands are entering the U.S. market from the Caribbean and Central America, expanding the range and quality of products.

e Beverage Information Group. Premium brands are thehottest; the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. reports thatthose rums grew 8 percent last year.Some of the growth has come from spiced or

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avored brandsused to spike cocktails with tropical

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avors—like guava andmango—while other aged and more complex brands areentering the U.S. market from the Caribbean and Central America, expanding the range and quality of products. As rumo

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erings multiply and sales rise, bar and restaurant operatorsincreasingly are making room on the back bar for more.On-premise, rum is in the sweet spot for a few reasons: thecontinuing popularity of the Mojito and its Brazilian cousin,the Caipirinha; the increasing interest in rums from aroundthe world; the resurgence of Tiki drinks—and the creativity of modern bartenders and beverage executives who are

erent kinds on our menu, and they outsell almost every other drink on our menu. Customers are de

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nitely still Mojitocrazy.” He adds that Mojito Monday continues to be theirstrongest night aside from Fridays and Saturdays, with Mojitosprices between $9 and $11 and accounting for more than half of the night’s total sales, food included. While P. F. Chang’s China Bistro isn’t exactly rum-focused,according to beverage director Mary Melton, the leading drink across their 133 units is the Bacardi-based Asian Pear Mojito, $8, which accounted for $5 million in sales last year.

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e second mostpopular rum drink on their menu is Chang’s Mai Tai, $7.50.

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e 10 Mojito varieties at Cuba Libre in Philadelphia, AtlanticCity and Orlando are by far the most popular, according to theoperation’s marketing director, Stacy Schulist, perhaps becausethey use fresh-squeezed sugar cane and a specialty mint variety. At least one seasonal specialty, the Grilled Pineapple Mojito,has become so popular that executives have placed it on thestandard drink menu. All sell for $10 each.

POPULAR ALL AROUND

It’s not just Mojitos that are driving rum trends.

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e secondmost popular drink at Rum Bar is the Caipirinha, priced from$8 to $15, where Kanter stocks ten brands of cachaça, rum’sBrazilian cousin made directly from sugarcane.

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e Dark andStormy, priced at $8, is the third most popular drink.For 45-unit Hard Rock Cafe, where spirits and rum play an especially important role, the top-selling drink is theirHurricane. Mojitos returned to their menu two years ago withgreat success, says worldwide director of beverage for HardRock, Cindy Busi, although they got out in front of the trend alittle early when they introduced Mojitos earlier in the decade.“We tried seven years ago to introduce both Mojitos and rumsangrias, also on the menu now, but our customers just weren’tready for them,” she says. “I’m a huge fan of rum, but we wereahead of the trend then.”Rum is a focal point at Cheeseburger in Paradise, whichoperates 36 units through the U.S. Of the chain’s 45 signaturedrinks, 21 are made with the spirit. “Rum is obviously very big

from a concept perspective, because a lot of drinks we do arerum-based,” says Monica Tary, director of training and beveragefor Cheeseburger in Paradise.Partly due to that interest in rums, in March Cheeseburgeradded three new rum-based Margarita variations: the BarbadosRumrita, made with Mount Gay Eclipse, Cointreau, mango

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avoring and orange, lemon and lime juices; the Sambarita,made with Sauza Gold Tequila and Cruzan Guava

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avoredrum; and the Fuzzy Pineapple, made with tequila and Bacardi.Mojitos still are very popular at the concept, too.

avor. Both their Mojitos and their rum Margaritas arepriced at $6 each.Rum Barrel Bar & Restaurant in Key West, Fla. has servedfor the last three years a mix of loyal locals and tourists whodescend on the small resort town, stocking an enviable selectionof more than 130 rums in its location next to a pirate museumthat the company also owns. With a pirate theme, including skull and crossbones, RumBarrel is “trying to give an aura of the pirate taverns of the1800s,” says managing partner Je

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Sorg.Most of their drink sales come from the specialty menu, where the leader is their $9 Rum Barrel, a signature drink made with Bacardi Select, Bacardi Gold, Bacardi 151 with cranberry,pineapple and orange juices and a splash of grenadine. Other rum

Decor at the Rum Barrel (above) is evocative of the pirate taverns of the 1800s. A rum sampler (right) is served on a driftwood plank.Wednesday night is“Save the Daiquiri” night atRum Bar in Philadelphia.